BIOM 121 1nd Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Lecture I Peoples of the Near East Phoenicians Philistines and Hebrews The Phoenicians The Philistines The Hebrews From People to Kingdom The Religion of the Hebrews The Hebrews The Kingdom of Israel The Hebrews From Kingdom to People What makes a people Hebrews are a people without a nation How do we establish what is important history of a state or history of ideas Location very top of Africa into Iberia surrounding Mediterranean Sea area of modern day Israel Lecture Notes II The Phoenicians Purple people Canaanites fill void not a state not a people individual cities Modern day Israel Independent cities in upper Levant Commerce o Coastal cities and trade experts with sailing o Dye and textiles purple dye comes from sea shells o The city of Gubla Byblos and the papyrus trade Bible Colonization opportunity comes with the contact of others o The western Mediterranean North Africa Carthage southern Iberia future trouble with Romans o Government by elite families Phoenician culture and religion III IV V Phoenician Culture and Religion Culture o Cultural influence through trade contacts o The first alphabet sounds represented by letter 22 consonants passed on to the Greeks do much more with it later Religion Polytheism Question why do people represent Gods Phoenicians made statues of their Gods o Ba al the Rider of the Clouds lord of sky war shows up in Hebrew Bible o Ashtart Astarte love fertility o Incense and animal and human sacrifice o Temple prostitution honoring the Gods through sex in temple Priests of Ba al o Avoided representation of the gods o Influence on and temptations to Hebrews Ashtart as queen of heaven in Jeremiah o Romans fight three wars against the Phoenicians eventually win The Philistines Only record of the comes from what the Hebrews say Descendants of the Peleset one of a group of people called the Sea People origin of Aegean Basin migrated to east coast of Mediterranean o Settled in southern Levant modern Gaza Strip o Palestine comes from Peleset Aegean trade Greek trade o Olive oil wine metals The Pentapolis five cities independent cities not single Kingdom o Gaza Ashkelon Ashdod Ekron Gath o Palace citadel Enemies of the Hebrews o Our knowledge about the Philistines we don t know their stories o Goliath giant villain killed by David Delilah villain cuts Sampson s hair off Hebrews From People to Kingdom Nomadic people migrate from the east to Canaan c 1900 B C immigrants o Scramble from land authority after Egyptians and Hittites wain o Abraham and covenant with YHWH YHWH tells him to circumcise children on 8th day to keep covenant didn t give rules or law until later Others pressed on to Egypt o Moses the Exodus c 1240 B C and the Law Pharoah Ramesses II r 1279 1213 B C freed the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt Sinai Peninsula Moses was given their law on Mount Sinai Torah received when they were freed from Egypt first five books includes 10 Commandments Christians called Old Testament Decalogue 10 Commandments The Twelve Tribes and the Judges REMEMBER a people not a state o Judah south and Israel north God ruled no king Judge Samuel chose Saul c 1025 B C to be King over the Hebrews then David o Pressure on Hebrews to become one kingdom by neighbors needed unity and strength of one kingdom VI The Religion of the Hebrews Monotheism only one God exists o Monolatry worship of one god o Henotheism one god supreme over others Where did their monotheism come from o Pharoah Akhenaton r 1364 1347 B C short span of worshiping one God Aton Sun Ray God What was the relationship between Akhenaton s god and the Hebrews Who influenced who The Hebrew Bible o Tanakh Torah Nevi im Ketuvim the Law the Prophets the Writings Account of a special relationship between the Hebrews and their God The God has no name when he presents the Law to Moses o Much later the Christian Old Testament Why YHWH I Am Jehovah needed to be a jealous god only Him o I Am Who Am Jehovah is Latin o Unity through a universal god o Resisting the religious influences of political domination there is one God don t worship anyone or anything else o National unity without a nation VII The Kingdom of Israel David as king of a unified Israel c 1000 962 B C o Defeat of the Philistines establishment of 12 tribes not unified o Territorial expansion at the expense of defeated peoples o David and the city of Jerusalem A new capital location location Why Jerusalem Right in the middle of all separate areas to say We are ONE state Center of priesthood of YHWH The Ark of the Covenant resting place of the tablets of the 10 Commandments Located in Jerusalem thus it becomes the center of the religion City and cult as national unifier Solomon r 961 922 B C o Wise but unpopular o Increasing royal power and pageantry o The First Temple in Jerusalem Ark of the Covenant placed inside Mount Moriah Abraham and Isaac where Abraham went to sacrifice his son to show his faith and following in God Holy of Holies as you get further in it gets more sacred VIII From Kingdom to People The Two Kingdoms c 922 B C 722 B C o Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah o Rebellion of the north Israel against high taxes and forced labor o Once again with disunity came vulnerability Attacks on Israel and Judah by the Assyrians o Israel destroyed 722 B C Sargon II r 722 705 B C o Strict monotheism intensifies Why The Chaldeans southern Babylonia King Nebuchadnezzar II r 604 562 B C o Conquest of Judah Jerusalem sacked the Temple destroyed o The Babylonian Captivity 586 B C 538 B C The influence of empires vs the influence of ideas